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QualityofService(QoS)MonitoringofCellularMobileVoiceServices‐CENTRALREGION[May‐June2015]

[Communications forDevelopment]

NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY

QUALITY OF SERVICE (QoS) MONITORING OF CELLULAR MOBILE VOICE SERVICES IN CENTRAL REGION, MAY-JUNE 2015

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Table of Contents

1. Background 2

2. What we measure 2

3. Findings 3-7

4. Remedies 8

5. Coverage Signal Strength 9-33


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Background

In pursuance of Annexure D1 and D2 of the Cellular Mobile Licence of Telecommunication Operators, the consumer perspective of the quality of voice services are tested to ensure the compliance of Operators to the obligations on service quality to the user.

The report is based on findings on quality of service in Central region from May to June 2015 for all Operators except for Expresso due to their technical challenges.

What we measure The Quality of Service monitoring system measures many parameters including coverage signal strength and voice quality. These parameters are in the 3G licence, a complementary licence to the Cellular Mobile Licence. The Voice Quality is measured by an ITU standard P.863 fondly called (POLQA) Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Assessment.

As per the Cellular Mobile licence obligations, the QoS indicators and their respective threshold for compliance under assessment considering the user’s perspective are as below;

Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) Congestion Rate

Call Setup Time (CST)

Call Congestion Rate

Call Drop Rate ( CDR)

Voice Call Audio Quality

Coverage Signal Strength


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Findings The results for the cities and towns tested during the period are as below:

a) Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) Congestion Rate

SDCCH Congestion Rate should be equal or less than one per cent (1%).

SDCCH Congestion is defined as the probability of failure of accessing a stand-alone

dedicated control channel during call set up.

For analysis and calculations,

100% attempts call MOC

Failures Assignment Immediate todue failsconnect ofNumber % Congestion SDCCH

Table 1. Signalling Congestion Rate Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015

Month City/Town MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel GloJUNE Kasoa 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Swedru 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Winneba 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Elmina 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Cape Coast 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Ajumako 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Saltpond 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Twifo Praso 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Assin Fosu 0 0 0 0 0

REMARK:

All Operators were in compliance in tested cities and towns with the signalling congestion threshold of less than 1 percent (1%).


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b) Call Setup Time (CST)

CST should be less than ten seconds (<10secs) in 95% of cases.

Call Setup Time is the period of time elapsing from the sending of a complete destination address (target telephone number) to the setting up of a call to the receiving terminal;

sendingaddresssignalalerting tt s timeup-set Call

signalalertingt – Moment when an alerting signal is sent to the called terminal

sendingaddresst – Moment user presses the SEND button on the calling terminal

Table 2. Call Setup Time of Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015

Month City/Town MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel GloJUNE Kasoa 10.41 9.8 8.9 13.1 8.9JUNE Swedru 7.6 12.2 6.43 11.06 10.1JUNE Winneba 6.44 9.66 6.3 5.6 8.8JUNE Elmina 4.24 12.2 9.7 5.8 16.50JUNE Cape Coast 5.49 6.95 6.6 9.22 6.3JUNE Ajumako 4.58 10.6 6.0 8.18 9.2JUNE Saltpond 4.34 7.18 7.0 4.2 4.70JUNE Twifo Praso 6.0 4.5 6.3 4.3 No networkJUNE Assin Fosu 4.42 10.2 6.05 6.3 5.9

REMARK:

All Operators except TIGO failed to meet the parameter threshold in certain localities.


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c) Call Congestion Rate

Traffic Channel Congestion should be equal or less than one per cent (1%).

Call Congestion Rate is the probability of failure of accessing a traffic channel during call setup;

100%attempts call ofnumber Total

calls failedConnect ofNumber % Congestion Call

Table 3. Call Congestion Rate Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015

REMARK:

All operators except Tigo remained compliant with the licence threshold of less than one percent (1%) in all the tested locations.

There is high traffic congestion on Tigo at Cape Coast and Elmina.

Month City/Town MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel Glo

JUNE Kasoa 0 0 0 0 0.6JUNE Swedru 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Winneba 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Elmina 0 0 3.5 0 0JUNE Cape Coast 0.45 0.44 6.1 0 0

JUNE Ajumako 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Saltpond 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Twifo Praso 0 0 0 0 No networkJUNE Assin Fosu 0 0 0 0 0


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d) Call Drop Rate ( CDR)

Call drop rate should be equal or less than three per cent (3%).

Voice Call Drop Rate is the probability of a call terminating without any of the users’ will;

100%attempts call ofnumber Total

yunwillingl ed terminatcalls ofNumber % Rate Drop

Table 4. Call Drop Rate Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015

Month City/Town MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel GloJUNE Kasoa 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Swedru 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Winneba 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Elmina 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Cape Coast 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Ajumako 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Saltpond 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Twifo Praso 0 0 0 0 0JUNE Assin Fosu 0 0 0 0 0

REMARK:

All operators were in compliance with the Call Drop Rate licence threshold of less than three percent (3%) in all localities tested.


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Voice Call Audio Quality - perceptibility of the conversation during a call. Voice Call Audio Quality is measured using a parameter called the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) which categorizes speech samples in ranges from 1 to 5. See legend below. This parameter is machine measured.

Table 5. Speech Quality Mean Opinion Score Central Region, May-June 2015

Central Region MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel GloMOS 3.4 3.8 3.2 3.3 3.5

REMARK:

Vodafone and Glo were assessed to give GOOD speech quality.

MTN, Airtel and Tigo were assessed to give FAIR speech quality.


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REMEDIES

The NCA has notified Operators of publication of these findings and has directed all Operators in improve their coverage in some localities by December 2015.

Tigo has been directed to cure the traffic congestion at Cape Coast and Elmina, and also sanctioned for violating its TCH Congestion obligation in Central Region.


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COVERAGE SIGNAL STRENGTH COVERAGE AND SPEECH MAPS The Maps below show the coverage level and speech quality in various towns where monitoring was performed. The coverage map is a combination of both 2G and 3G network signal strength. In each plot is a legend to indicate definitions of signal strength and quality range attain by operators during measurement. Coverage levels in green falls in the rage of -85dBm and above are considered good. Those between -85 and -95dBm are considered fair and are indicated in yellow. The red samples represent poor coverage in the range of -95 to -110dBm. The black samples represent areas with no coverage. The speech quality was assessed with Mean Opinion Score (MOS) which ranges from 5 to 1.

Coverage Legend

Colour Area Coverage Rating

Good Coverage Areas

Fair Coverage Areas

Poor Coverage Areas

None Existent Coverage Areas


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APPENDIX I AIRTEL Fig. 1, Airtel Coverage , Ajumako June 2015

Airtel has a good coverage in Ajumako towards UCEW Campus but recorded very poor Coverage level at Enyan Denkyira and Esiam.

Fig. 2, Airtel Coverage, Winneba, June 2015

Airtel has poor Coverage around the Beach, parts of north Campus, Taxi Rank and Low Cost areas.


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Fig. 3, Airtel Coverage, Swedru, June 2015

Airtel has poor coverage around Afranse and Ekwamkrom area.

Fig. 4, Airtel Coverage, Twifo Praso. June 2015

Airtel has good 2G coverage at Twifo Praso


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Fig. 5, Airtel Coverage, Saltpond. June 2015

Good coverage in Saltpond with few spots of poor coverage

Fig. 6, Airtel Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015

Poor Coverage in Kasoa


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Fig. 7, Airtel Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015

Poor Coverage across Cape Coast

Fig. 8, Airtel Coverage, Elmina. June 2015

Poor Coverage at Elmina


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APPENDIX II

VODAFONE

Fig. 9, Vodafone coverage, Ajumako. June 2015

Good Coverage at Enyan Denkyira and Esam. However recorded poor coverage at parts of Ajumako township

Fig. 10, Vodafone Coverage, Winneba. June 2015

Good Coverage at Winneba. However an improvement is needed around the South Campus area.


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Fig. 11, Vodafone Coverage, Assin Fosu June 2015

Good coverage at Assin Fosu

Fig. 12, Vodafone Coverage, Swedru. June 2015

Good coverage at Agona Swedru yet requires improvement at the outskirts


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Fig. 13, Vodafone Coverage , Twifo Praso. June 2015

Good Coverage at Twifo Praso

Fig. 14, Vodafone Coverage , Saltpond. June 2015

Vodafone coverage needs improvement at Saltpond


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Fig.15, Vodafone Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015

Good Coverage at most parts of Kasoa. Coverage improvement is needed around the Millennium City and the Nyanano road area.

Fig. 16, Vodafone Coverage, Cape Coast. June 2015

Good Coverage at parts of Cape Coast. However, Tantri, First Ridge and parts of Cape Vars has poor coverage.


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Fig. 17, Vodafone Coverage, Elmina. June 2015

Poor Coverage in Elmina Town and Ankaful Junction.


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APPENDIX III

TIGO

Fig. 18, Tigo Coverage, Ajumako. June 2015

Good 2G coverage

Fig. 19, Tigo Coverage, Assin Fosu. June 2015

Poor coverage at the outskirts of Assin Fosu.


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Fig. 20, Tigo Coverage, Cape Coast. June 2015

Good Coverage with spots of poor coverage around Ekon and CapeVars.

Fig. 21, Tigo Coverage, Elmina. June 2015

Poor Coverage recorded around the Castle along to the Coconut Grove Resort and parts of the Takoradi Highway.


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Fig. 22, Tigo Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015

Poor Coverage at north Kasoa

Fig. 23, Tigo Coverage, Saltpond. June 2015

Good Coverage


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Fig. 24, Tigo Coverage, Twifo Praso, June 2015

Poor Coverage at the outskirts of Twifo Praso

Fig. 25, Tigo Coverage, Swedru. June 2015

Poor Coverage around Texaco and Afranse


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Fig. 26, Tigo Coverage, Winneba, June 2015

Poor coverage at Low cost, North and South Campus and along the beach .


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APPENDIX IV

GLO

Fig. 27, Glo Coverage, Ajumako, June 2015

Poor Coverage around Ajumako Town and Assasang.

Fig. 28, Glo Coverage, Assin Fosu, June 2015

Good Coverage with improvement required at some parts of the town.


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Fig. 29, Glo Coverage, Cape Coast, June 2015

Poor Coverage at Ola, Pedu and Ekon

Fig. 30, Glo Coverage, Elmina, June 2015

Poor Coverage at some parts of Cape Coast- Takoradi highway and the Coconut Grove link to the Highway


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Fig. 31, Glo Coverage, Kasoa, June 2015

Poor Coverage spots across Kasoa

Fig. 32, Glo Coverage, Swedru, June 2015

Poor Coverage around Asafo, Ekomkrom and parts of the Afranse road


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Fig. 33, Glo Coverage, Winneba, June 2015

Poor Coverage around Low Cost, North Campus, Winnesec Junction and Water works area.


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APPENDIX V

MTN

Fig. 34, MTN Coverage, Ajumako, June 2015

Poor coverage at Enyan Denkyira and Esiam.

Fig. 35, MTN Coverage, Assin Fosu, June 2015

Poor Coverage around Government Hospital area.


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Fig. 36, MTN Coverage, Cape Coast, June 2015

Good Coverage with scattered spots of poor coverage.

Fig. 37, MTN Coverage, Agona Swedru, June 2015

Poor Coverage at Afranse


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Fig. 38, MTN Coverage, Twifo Praso, June 2015

Good Coverage

Fig. 39, MTN Coverage, Winneba, June 2015

Poor Coverage at Low Cost, South Campus area and some few spots


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APPENDIX VI

SPEECH QUALITY FOR OPERATORS

Figure 40 Airtel Speech Quality report in Central Region

Figure 41 Vodafone Speech Quality report in Central Region


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Figure 43 Tigo Speech Quality report in Central Region

Figure 44 Glo Speech Quality report in Central Region


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Figure 45 MTN Speech Quality report in Central Region

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